Casualties & dead on D-day
From the number of casualties & deaths on D-Day, you can deduce that this was one of the most important moments during the war.
Troops of the 16th Infantry Regiment (1st Infantry Division) next to their wounded comrades. One of them is given blood plasma.
Allied casualties & deaths on D-day
Keeping accurate records was very difficult under the circumstances. Some of these figures about the casualties & dead on D-Day are therefore not accurate but rather a realistic estimate made up from several sources.
It is also important to note that casualties are not only the dead but also the wounded. The number of killed could mostly be derived from the number of killed. In most places this was about 30%. That means that if there were 100 casualties, 30 would be considered killed. The other 70% were usually considered wounded or missing.
| Sectors | Troops* | Casualties* |
|---|---|---|
| Sword Beach | 28.845 | ± 683 |
| Juno Beach | 21.400 | ± 961 |
| Gold Beach | 28.825 | ± 1100 |
| Omaha Beach | 34.250 | ± 2.000 |
| Utah Beach | 23.250 | 197 |
| Amphibious landings | 136.590 | ± 4.950 |
| British airborne landings | ± 7.900 | ± 1.500 |
| US airborne landings | ± 15.500 | ± 2.500 |
| Airborne landings | ± 23.400 | ± 4.000 |
| Total | ± 156.100 | ± 9.000 |
| Troops: The total number of troops landed by sea on D-Day until midnight. | ||
| Casualties: The number of soldiers wounded or killed. | ||
The total number of allied casualties on D-day is, according to some, higher than the 9,000 mentioned above. There are reports that refer to ± 10,000 casualties but these have not been confirmed to this day. The exact number of casualties on D-day is also not known. But if you use the estimate of 30%, you come to a rough estimate of ± 3,000 allied deaths on D-day.
There are sources (US National D-day Memorial Foundation) that, after more accurate research, speak of 4,414 allied deaths on D-day. These include 2,501 from the US, 1,449 British dead, 391 Canadians and 73 from other allied countries.
German casualties on D-Day
The exact number of German casualties is not yet known but is estimated to be between ± 4,000 and ± 9,000.
D-Day was only the beginning. Many more casualties would follow during Operation Overlord. See the figures in the topic ‘Casualties of Operation Overlord‘.
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